I can't be sick! I can't be sick!

But it's official - I'm sick.

I have a fever and everything. Oh joy.

And it came so suddenly. My allergies have been bothering me the last few days but nothing bad. This morning I took an allergy pill because I was going with Evan's class on a field trip to the pumpkin patch and I was going to be outside with hay all over and thought an allergy pill would help. All day I have felt it get worse and worse and felt my energy just drain. I think it quickly morphed into a sinus infection because my head is now killing me.

Mom's just shouldn't be able to get sick. It's just not fair!

Or if we do get sick, there should be substitute moms. You know, someone to come in and keep the house running - to keep all the balls that I have just suddenly dropped, going. Wouldn't that be awesome!

Yes, that would definitely be awesome!

What if your spouse was just suddenly gone?

Sorry for the sad topic today but it has been on my mind a lot lately as in the past month we have known of 3 families where this has happened. One of the spouses just suddenly past away.

The first was a friend of a friend and the couple was out on a date night and were driving home. The husband looked over at his wife and she was just sitting there with her tongue slightly hanging out of her mouth. He thought she was joking around but unfortunately she wasn't. She was gone. Aneurysm. They have 3 small children.

The second was a family member of a guy that works with Kurt at church. His nephew-in-law was a motorcycle cop that was killed while on duty. They have 2 small girls.

The third we found out about yesterday morning. A teacher at the kids school lost her husband, who had also been very active in the school. He just went to bed Friday and didn't wake up Saturday. They have 3 small kids.

All heartbreaking stories. All young couples with young families. All there and fine one minute and then gone the next. I just can't imagine.

But it could happen to any of us. Could happen to any of our family members. Nothing is certain. There are no guarantees. And while that makes me want to freak out and to group my family together and never leave the house again, I have to remember to have faith. I don't know the plan for me and my family but Heavenly Father does. He knows exactly what he is doing and I just have to have faith that if someone I know is called home way earlier than anyone on Earth thinks is right, He has a plan. He knows what He is doing. I have to trust Him, no matter what. And that makes me feel safe and secure.

I used to have a really hard time with death. I really, really struggled with it. But for some reason, my mom's passing helped me drastically with it. I don't get it but some how my mom made death ok. She made it beautiful. Those last few days with her where my dad, my brother and I grouped together and took care of her and loved her were precious. They were hard but they were precious. And everyone told me it was ok to be angry and to feel mad but I never did. I didn't feel like that once. My trust in Heavenly Father grew. I had to know that there was something bigger, that I would see her again, that this was just a temporary separation and that it was ok. And it is. It may bite because I want her here but I know that this is just a small part of life and that we will be together again. So yes, I still get sad. Yes, I still tear up when I miss her. Yes, I am battling tears right now BUT I know that in the grand scheme of things, this is just a blimp on my journey to return home to Heavenly Father.

Kurt and I have discussed many times which is harder, to lose a loved one suddenly (like he lost his mom) or to watch them suffer (like I did). We have both bounced back and forth. The conclusion we have come to: they both bite. It is no fun to lose anyone, EVER. However I think the sudden loss would be harder. Yes, I had to watch my mom lie in bed and cry because she felt so horrible and there was nothing I could do, but at least I got to be with her. I got to love her and take care of her to the best of my ability. At least I had that time to spend with her knowing her time was limited. To have them suddenly just gone seems so much harder to me now.

All of this also makes me very aware of the fact that I need to let things go and not get wrapped up in petty "life" stuff. There is something so much bigger than any of us can imagine where none of this crazy, Earthly stuff matters. I need to be a happier woman. I need to be a sillier mom. I need to just relax and enjoy the people around me. So that is my vow ~ ENJOY LIFE ~ especially my kids when they are driving me crazy =~)

So that is my thought today - enjoy your life. Enjoy those around you.

Hope some of that made sense. It was just all bottling up inside and I had to share. Other people are so good at expressing themselves so eloquently. I don't feel like I have been able to do that but this is what I was feeling.

Now, I will go enjoy my crazy, messy house as we have just returned from camping and I have up-teen million loads of laundry to do and I will enjoy them and my 1 year old "helper." And I promise, much happier posts coming like: our camping trip, Evan's bday party and the much anticipated wedding pictures from my dad's wedding!

Hello?? Fellow Bloggers?? Anyone out there??

So I have noticed that quite a few (ok, mostly all) my fellow bloggers have stopped blogging and I just want to say . . .

I TOTALLY MISS YOU!!!

I know, life is busy and blogging takes precious time but just know that I truly miss every single one of you. I miss reading about your family. I miss watching you kids grow. I miss feeling like we are apart of each other's lives, even though we may live far apart. I just miss you!

Posts don't have to be perfect. They don't have to have pictures each time (although, I do love pictures). They don't have to be funny, intelligent, deep thought provoking or whatever else you may think they need to be. They just need to be about you and your family and life.

So just know that YOU are missed. Dearly.

And I am going to try to be a better blogger too. My goal is to blog at least once a week, if not more. So here is to more blogging =~)

Oh, that stinkin' dog!

Mornings around here are pretty crazy. No matter how hard I try to get everything organized the night before, we still all run around crazy. Drives me crazy. I don't like repeating myself 4 times asking someone to do something. Urgh! So we are working on it.

Well Monday morning was just as crazy as the rest of them. We ran out of her barely in time to get Kayla to her first class on time. After I dropped all the kids off, I went over to pick up a lab slip from my doctors office. They didn't open until 8:30 so I had a 1/2 hour to waste. I went over to the Nugget Market, which I never shop at because of their prices, and just wandered around.

At about 8:25 my cell phone rang. I looked at the caller and it was my neighbor. I immediately thought something wasn't right because she never calls me on my cell. I answered it and she said that another neighbor brought our dog over to her house because he was out front. I told her that it couldn't be Cody because he had been in Evan's room when we left. She said "well, he's black, has a blue collar and the name White is on the collar." Sounds like Cody. So she told me that they put him in the backyard. I thanked her repeatedly.

When I got home, sure enough it was Cody in the backyard. I have NO idea how he got out. No clue. Last I saw him he was in his crate (with the door open) in Evan's room. Sometime during all the craziness, he made his escape. I was so thankful for the neighbors!

So, this morning was crazy again. We were all running around and Hailey couldn't find her shoes. No matter how many times I ask and remind them, they don't put their shoes in the garage. We finally found them and ran out the door rushing to school again. I backed out of the garage, shut the garage door and started to pull forward when I had the thought "where's the dog? The door has been open for awhile while we hunted for shoes. Where's the dog?" So in a panic I hopped out and ran to our dining room window, which was open because it was a cool morning.

"Cody," I yelled. Nothing. "CODY!" Nothing. Oh no. So I ran to Evan's bedroom window, also open, trying to see if he is locked in his crate or in Evan's room. The way the blinds were tilted, I couldn't see his crate so I yelled "CODY!" Nothing. No noise at all. Oh man! So I ran to the gate and into the back yard hoping that we left him outside. Nope. So I went to the kitchen window "CODY!" Nothing.

As I ran to the front yard to open the garage door, all I could think of was "do I take the kids to school and then look for the dog, which means he could get farther away, or do I keep them here and we all look and then they are late for school. If I send them to school without knowing where the dog is, are they going to be able to focus or be too worried?" I ran in the house thinking maybe he somehow got stuck in a room upstairs. Nope. Panic was really starting to set in now.

I ran into Evan's room to check the crate door and guess what? There is that stinkin' dog just laying in his crate, with the door open, looking at me like "what is with all the noise? I'm trying to sleep here!" Not once did he bother to get up, respond to his name or make any sort of noise so that I knew he was there.

Oh, that stinkin' dog!

Labor Day Hike

We usually go camping on Labor Day but it just didn't happen this year. I still wanted to do something as a family though. I didn't want to sit at home with all the chores calling my name and the kids trying to sneak off to watch tv. I wanted to do something fun. So I asked our friend if she knew of a fun, easy hikes to do with kids and she did. So off we went. 

Now, let me just say that everyone else was not thrilled with my idea. Apparently being lazy and watching tv sounded like a lot more fun to some of my kids but I dragged them along because "we are a family and we are going to have fun together so get in the car, smile and HAVE FUN!" Ya, it was one of those kinds of trips.

So it was a pretty cool hike. Although I think it would be WAY better in the spring when water is actually flowing in all the little creeks you cross or walk along or see. Not so exciting when it's dry. We will definitely do it again in the spring time.

Hiking with my baby and my man:

So you reach this point were you walk along this long bridge thing. It was really cool.

Then you get to a turn off and you get to zig-zag down the ramps. Doubly cool.

 Evan going down:

Hailey going down:

At the bottom of the ramp was a little pond so we stopped, sat in the shade and had lunch.

And where are is a pond and rocks,

 rock throwing and splashing will occur.

Marty was the thrower and Kurt was the photographer.

The kids were the screamers =)

Then we thought it would be cool to get a picture of all the kids with a splash in the background. But I am sure you can imagine that timing a picture with a splash and all the kids looking at the same time, would be rather difficult. 

Here is what Kurt got:

Missed the splash.

And here is what Lorraine got:

 Got the splash but not 2 kids looking. So use your imagination and put the two together and we got the perfect picture!

 Also, this was the picture that put Kayla over her limit. She was a little challenging that day being that she didn't want to go to begin with. Then she didn't like the splash happening behind her. Oye! It had been so long since she had been difficult that we felt rather out of practice. We weren't quite sure what to do with her. But luckily she was a bit out of practice herself at being difficult because she wasn't that bad and we so we were able to work through it.

 At the end of the trail. 

All smiles for this little guy!

It's a good thing he has feet!

Trevor is sooooo quiet in the car. He rarely makes a peep. Unless we are traveling a far distance, then, of course, he makes his voice be heard. But just ordinary running around, dropping kids off, picking kids up, he is dead silent.

This has caused me many a-times to panic thinking that I left him somewhere or I forgot to put him in the car or something. Since he was a newborn I have asked the kids "Trevor is back there, right?"

Well with the kids in school, no one is back there for me to get confirmation from that Trevor is indeed with us. So now in my moments of panic, I look over my shoulder and  . . . 

A huge sigh of relief because there are his little feet. 

Thank goodness! 

I love those little feet.

Going vegan?

Well, maybe. We'll see.

About 2 weeks ago Kurt went to Chipotle for lunch and ran into some friends that we haven't seen in awhile. They invited him to join them while they all ate. He called me afterwards and told me that they had switched to a vegan diet and that they love it and feel great. They also recommended watching Forks over Knives (or something like that).

Now, I am always, ALWAYS, trying to get my family to eat better. And Kurt will always say that he wants to eat better but then he will go to the store for one thing, usually milk, and come home with 10 boxes of cereal. Sugar cereal. And I shake my head and say "where's the guy who wants to eat better?" and he will say "he's over here eating a bowl of Lucky Charms." Or he'll do something like this:

Buying 24 boxes of brownie mix at one time. And I just shake my head because I love him and he loves his sweets.

But he was really interested in this vegan diet idea. So while he finished up his day working, I got on the computer and researched vegan diets. Turns out they are totally free of any and all animal products. Nothing from animals . . . including eggs. I called up my man and told him that eggs (and therefore brownies, cookies, cakes, etc.) were out. He said "well that was fun being vegan." He lasted 2 whole hours =)

But the seed got planted in my brian because 1) I don't eat that much dairy because I am lactose intolerant and 2) I'm not a big meat eater. I have watched some documentaries, like Food Inc., about our country and what is being done to our food. And it worries me.

So then last week I had a dr. appointment with my all time favorite doctor. He is my Nephrologist (kidney doctor). He is awesome and funny and super smart and I swear he doesn't blink - ever! The thing is that I am not "sick" enough to see him regularly, which I soooooo appreciate, but I really like his advise and his outlook on things. He is very proactive. So I try to get in and see him when I can.

So how do I make this simple and not way long? Basically he said that my system shows signs of someday developing lupus, which is bad, so we should try to do everything we can to prevent a flare up. While my other doctors are just waiting for something to happen, he says we should try to prevent anything from happening. During our discussion it came up that I am lactose intolerant. He said "well you should avoid dairy like nut allergy people avoid nuts." Wow. That was pretty serious. He explained that every time I eat dairy, my system has an allergic reaction to it and that causes an inflamed  state. We want to avoid those at all costs. Makes sense to me.

So Kurt asked him about a vegan diet for me, notice he didn't say for "us" =)  The doctor said that it could help me avoid flaring up my system. Oh, and by the way, we were in there because of a kidney stone on my left side, so we talked about diet and kidney stones which he said meat can contribute to those. He explained the scientific process of what happens when meat breaks down but it was way over my head (see, he's smart). So basically, I should avoid meat and dairy. Sounds vegan to me.

So I tried it this last week. I bought a ton of veggies and fruits and tried my best to avoid animal products. And honestly, by Friday, I was STARVING! So I have added some meat back into my diet. I have a referral in to a dietitian so hopefully she will call next week. I am really looking forward to talking to her and figuring out what else I can eat that will fill me up.

So I may not be totally vegan. I may have some weird made up Jennifer diet but it will be interesting to see how it makes me feel. I am very excited!